Tánaiste launches new Enterprise & Technology Centre for Wexford

"Centre will encourage and support job creation" - Harney

"Involvement of Waterford Institute of Technology underlines importance of education/business links" - Tánaiste

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Mary Harney, today (Monday 23 June, 2003) visited Enniscorthy to open the new Enterprise & Technology Centre in the County Wexford town. The Tánaiste also launched the Report of the Wexford Enterprise Initiative on "Promoting Investment in County Wexford."

The establishment of an Enterprise & Technology Centre in Enniscorthy was one of the key developments to emerge from the work of the Wexford Enterprise Initiative which itself was established by the Tánaiste following the 1999 Report recommending a "Strategy for Economic Development" in County Wexford.

Speaking at the opening of the Centre, the Tánaiste said: "The Centre will be a focus for enterprise development in the County. Micro enterprises and small businesses constitute an important source of economic activity and employment. This Government is committed to ensuring that our entrepreneurs have the environment, the facilities and the incentives to enable them to succeed and to develop into the big businesses of the future. This Centre will be a very important catalyst in generating employment in Enniscorthy and the surrounding area."

The Tánaiste paid tribute to all those whose vision and energy had contributed to making the Centre a reality. She went on: "I am pleased to see that six of the incubation units on the ground floor are already occupied. I am sure that the principals involved with these companies, AM/PM, Pinnacle Consultants, Dantec, Stafford Archaeologists, Adult Literacy and Alan Maher Consultants can testify to the importance of a Centre such as this in helping them to get small business off the ground. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of those involved in these innovative enterprises continued success in their endeavours."

The Tánaiste confirmed that one unit is of the Centre is reserved for an initiative by the Waterford Institute of Technology (`WIT') aimed at providing training and research facilities and at promoting business and entrepreneurial skills. The WIT Enterprise Support Unit is linked to the EU funded Platform programme for enabling technology transfer. "The involvement of WIT in this Centre serves to underline the vital role that links between the education sector and business has to play in supporting the innovation process and in the creation of an enterprise culture," the Tánaiste said

The Tánaiste went on to announce that IDA Ireland has recently lodged two planning applications for the construction of an office building and an advanced technology facility at Drinagh Business Park. "This is also in line with a recommendation of the Wexford Enterprise Initiative and will I am sure facilitate the attraction of new investment to the area in the future," the Tánaiste said.

The Tánaiste also launched the Report of the Wexford Enterprise Initiative entitled "Promoting Investment in County Wexford". The Report is accompanied by a promotional CD which, the Tánaiste said, "details all the services and resources available in Wexford to indigenous industries, foreign direct investment and people looking to relocate. This interactive CD highlights the attractions of Wexford as a business location, profiles the county as an industrial base and brings to attention the cultural and leisure activities living in Wexford has to offer."

The Tánaiste continued: "Creating and maintaining an environment that is conductive to enterprise is what will drive job creation, investment and growth and is crucial to the long-term prosperity of the Irish economy. This Enterprise and Technology Centre, the CD-Rom and the work started by the Wexford Enterprise Initiative is testimony to the results that can be achieved through commitment and effort at a community level. Allied to the support of the development agencies and local business, this sort of commitment will lead to enhanced economic well-being in the future."

Wexford now has a Enterprise and Technology Centre of which you all can be proud and which will benefit the entire community," the Tánaiste concluded.

ENDS